Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.

If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Supplementary Files: Please also submit supplementary files along with your manuscript and also go through JNMA Checklist (must read):

Author Guidelines

The Editorial Process JNMA follows the principles of COPE, CSE, WAME, ICJME, DOAJ, OASPA guidelines. The submitted manuscripts are duly acknowledged and initially reviewed for possible publication by the Editors with the understanding that they are being submitted only to the JNMA, have not been published, simultaneously submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere.

Rejection: On an average, 40-60% of the manuscripts with insufficient originality or insignificant message, serious scientific and technical flaws are rejected. However, we do encourage the author to resubmit after the revision if the research was conducted scientifically. The preliminary rejection of the manuscript is related to; manuscript being out of scope, manuscript not formatted correctly, not following checklist and guidelines accurately, submission below publishable standards, incomplete submission (e.g. lack of ethical approval letter for research article). If it passes through preliminary rejection, it will go through proper peer review. The final rejection could be due to lack of originality, flaws in the METHODS section, generalising and exaggerating the finding not supported by aims and objective including the methodology, peer reviewers' comment not properly answered or unanswered, plagiarism, publication misconduct and more. If you follow the JNMA guideline in detail, you can avoid preliminary rejection and minimise the final rejection of your submission.

We truly value your hard work and wish to publish most of the submissions to the JNMA. However, as we stated earlier, we follow the principles of COPE, CSE, WAME, ICJME, DOAJ, OASPA guidelines. Hence, we have to maintain the highest standard of scientific values in our work. Therefore, we urge you to help us to improve science together. We hope that the rejection of your current submission will not deter you to continue submitting your work to the JNMA

Publication and Decision Time: Time to first decision overall (average) within 7-10 days for initial decision (without review); 60 days (with the review). Those articles which have been submitted six months to a year ago undergo auto-pruning (automatic declining). It happens due to one of the following reasons i) to iii) or due to loss of contact with the authors.

If you find encounter delay and find no update on your JNMA submission account, which could be due to;i) submission was incomplete or ii) submission was without following JNMA format and supplementary documents or iii) there is an issue with your submission (e.g. ethical issues or research misconduct or related)Because of any of the above issues or any other reasons, if you do not receive any information or update about your submission within 2-4 weeks, please contact JNMA as soon as possible. We will make sure that your voice is heard and addressed appropriately.

N.B. Please do not contact on personal email, social media or phone number to Editor-in-Chief, Editorial team or JNMA staff related to your submission. All communication must be made via JNMA official email address only. JNMA best editorial practice ensures that it publishes the highest standard articles.

The Peer Review ProcessThe manuscripts are then sent to two expert peer reviewers blinded to the contributor’s identity and vice versa for meticulous review, inputs and comments. The final decision on whether to accept or reject the article are taken by the Editor-in-Chief based on editorial board and peer reviewers. The contributors are informed about the rejection/acceptance of the manuscript with the peer reviewer’s comments. Accepted articles have to be resubmitted after making the necessary changes or clarifying questions made during the peer review process.The accepted articles are edited for grammatical, punctuation, print style and format errors and page proofs and are sent to the corresponding author who should return them within three days. Non-response to galley proof may result in the delay of publication or even rejection of the article.

Reporting GuidelinesThe guidelines listed below should be followed where appropriate. Please use these guidelines to structure your article. Completed applicable checklists, structured abstracts and flow diagrams should be uploaded with your submission; these will be published alongside the final version of your paper.

The Equator Network (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency Of health Research) provides a comprehensive list of reporting guidelines.

Focus and ScopeJNMA invites original research papers, review articles, case reports, medical education, viewpoints letter to the editor containing new insight into any aspect of Medical & Health Science that are not published or not being considered for publication elsewhere. The journal is particularly interested and welcomes papers in basic and clinical medical sciences, medical education, public health, hospital and healthcare management, research and publication ethics, too.

EDITORIALIt is submitted by an editorial board or invited piece on most pertinent issues on Health in Nepal or in the world. It undergoes fast-track peer review process. reviewed,

ORIGINAL ARTICLEJNMA accept researches conducted in the field of basic and clinical medical sciences, medical education, public health, hospital and healthcare management, allied health sciences and research and publication ethics, with the maximum length of 2500-3500 world (excluding abstract of 250 words). It undergoes rigorous peer review process. Please expect lots of communication from the JNMA.

CASE REPORTSThis section includes report of a case with literature review that includes, an unexpected association between diseases or symptoms, an unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient, findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect, unique or rare feature of a disease, unique therapeutic approaches, approaches to a case report, a patient whose diagnosis was difficult to make, describe changes in one or more patients with chronic conditions over an extended time period, report on two or more patients with similar characteristics who received different interventions and had different outcomes, atypical management of patients with common problems, atypical patient presentations, apply theory to patient or client management, report on an administrative or academic experience. Please use CARE Case Report Checklist while preparing your case report.Case report provides an opportunity for the scientist to work further therefore, we are interested in advance medical science and spawn research; describe rare, perplexing, or novel diagnostic features of a disease state; report therapeutic challenges, controversies, or dilemmas; describe a new approach to treatment and patient care, teach humanistic lessons to the health care professional; review a unique job description of a health care professional that improves patient care; report new medical errors or medication errors; discover a device malfunction that results in patient harm; describe drug adverse effects and patient toxicity; life-threatening adverse events; dangerous and predictable adverse effects that are poorly appreciated and rarely recognized; a therapeutic failure or a lack of therapeutic efficacy; use of life-saving techniques not previously documented; uncover barriers to patient adherence; discover an interaction between a drug and a laboratory test that yields a false-positive or false-negative result; effect of drugs in pregnancy and lactation; use of technology to improve patient outcomes. It undergoes peer review process. Please download Case Report Consent Form, get a written consent and put the original on the patient chart and provide a copy of it during your submission.

REVIEW ARTICLEReview articles are which summarise the current state of understanding on a topic and analyses or discuss research previously published by others, rather than reporting new experimental results.They are very thorough literature reviews that identify historical and current trends in the research, important scholars in the field, foundational articles, major discoveries, gaps in the research (areas for further exploration), and current debates or controversies. It has to be about 3000 words without counting abstract (200 words) and references (>50 and usually <100). It undergoes rigorous peer review process.

MEDICAL EDUCATIONJNMA accept perspective on undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education. All issues of current interest, including teaching methods, curriculum reform, the training of medical teachers, the selection of entrants and assessment techniques, curriculum development, evaluations of performance, assessment of training needs and evidence-based medicine are accepted, with word limit up to 1500 words excluding abstract of 150 words. It undergoes peer review process.

SHORT COMMUNICATIONThese are research article which doesn't fit exactly into research article but findings are interesting, e.g. pilot study. It undergoes peer review process.

VIEWPOINTThe article in this section is based on issues related to health sciences to raise the voice, awareness, new ideas, thought to provoke concepts, and personal expert opinion to improve the health.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR The section includes a reaction and issue relating to WJHS, be it a comment relating a recent article, an elaboration of an important discovery, or simply a thought-provoking commentary of fewer than 1000 words without an abstract.

BOOK REVIEWThis section is invited by the editorial board. NMA NewsThis section includes information about NMA activities. The submission to this section is open to Nepal Medical Association, only.

PEER REVIEW PROCESSThe Chief Editor, together with the editorial board will ensure following peer review policy:1. Double-blind: The manuscript will be blinded when sending out for review. The author is anonymous to the reviewer and the reviewer is anonymous to the author as well.2. One-stage review: The reviewer is involved in the initial review of the manuscript only, i.e. not involved in evaluating the revisions made by the author based on the reviewer’s comments. Rather, the Chief Editor carries the manuscript forward following the initial review.3. In rare, controversial and special circumstances; Two-stage review: Those papers that require revision as suggested by the reviewer will be sent back to that same reviewer for him/her to evaluate the manuscript once again after revised re-submission from the author.

The author has to submit their manuscript according to JNMA section policy.- All submitted article will undergo international peer review with blinding for two peer reviewers, simultaneously. If the decision conflicts between two, it will be sent to third peer reviewer.- The typical review will take minimum 4-6 weeks which includes 2 weeks for peer review and remaining weeks for peer review handling process. However, this may take little longer due to unseen workloads.- When the article is received from peer reviewer there will be one of the following outcomes and the decision choices include:Accept Submission: The submission will be accepted without revisions.Revisions Required: The submission will be accepted after minor changes have been made according to the reviewer's comment.Resubmit for Review: The submission needs to be re-worked, but with significant changes, may be accepted. It will require a second round of review, however.Resubmit elsewhere: When the submission does not meet the focus and scope of JNMA.Decline Submission: The submission will not be published in the journal.

All comments received from the reviewers will be passed on to the authors within 4-6 weeks after getting back from the reviewers. Regardless of whether or not the submission is accepted for publication, it is essential that appropriate feedback is provided to the contributors.JNMA respect the views, opinion, comments and decision of the reviewer. However, the right for acceptance and rejection of the manuscript is reserved with the Chief Editor, on the basis of maintaining the integrity of the science, following the guideline of ICJME, WAME, CSE, COPE.The editors will be responsible for directing the manuscripts to the appropriate reviewers who have the knowledge and/or expertise in the requisite fields. Each manuscript will be accepted (sometimes on a conditional basis pending suggested changes) or declined based on the reviewers' comments, and other factors by Chief Editor's decisions. In the case of a controversial groundbreaking article that could have a far-reaching impact on the field, further reviews may be sought. The decision ultimately rests with the chief editor.Peer Reviewers will be provided with Review Guidelines, once they accept to review the submission. JNMA will rate reviewers on a five-point quality scale after each review.

Author GuidelinesMANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINESJournal of Nepal Medical Association is an internationally peer reviewed, MedLine/PubMed indexed, a general medical journal of Nepal Medical Association. JNMA is the first and oldest medical journal from Nepal since 1963 AD.The JNMA abide by:1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals2. World Association of Medical Editors for best editorial practice3. Council of Science Editors for best editorial practice3. Committee on Publication Ethics for practising good publication ethicsYou can also view our author guideline (printed version) from HERE [You need to have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer]*Please go through Author Guideline Video | Manuscript Preparation Video for Nepalese Authors.

SUBMISSION DOCUMENTSPlease submit all the following documents while submitting your new manuscript to JNMA:1. Forwarding letter2. Authorship3. Declaration4. Manuscript5. Ethical Approval letter**This is for research article only. Ethical approval letter should be taken before starting the research. Any research without ethically approved by recognised ethical review board is of no value. The Ethical Review Board of Nepal Health Research Council is the apex body for looking after the ethics in research in Nepal. However, ERB has established institutions review committee in most of the medical college, tertiary care centre hospitals and research centre throughout the country. If you do not belong to such IRC centres, please contact ERB, NHRC for ethical approval of your research. For international author - please provide ethical approval letter from your institutional ethical committee or national body responsible for ethics in research. Any submission without above documents and manuscript not in JNMA format will be rejected outright. Therefore to avoid such errors and rejection, please submit your article with all supplementary and required files along with the use of appropriate template given below.

Added DocumentsPlease go through JNMA checklist and reference preparing a document for your manuscript. However, we use CITING MEDICINE for citation. Incorrect reference and erroneous citation will invalid your paper at JNMA.1. JNMA Checklist (must read)

MUST HAVE INFORMATIONTo minimise the rejection (or return for revision) of your article please do the followings:

All the documents have to be submitted at once (as listed above).

Please use the template for your respective manuscript to avoid error in the heading and subheadings.

Please address all the point described in the JNMA checklist, references and manuscript preparation guidelines etc.

Please do not submit the article that we do not publish (check author guideline for a different type of article we accept).

If you have difficulty working on the computer or not good at it particularly Microsoft word document, please seek a professional help to prepare your manuscript according to our need.

Email is the preferred methods of communication, therefore, please check your email once a day after you submit an article to JNMA. We will inform you about the status of your article through our system to the email you at your mail ID which you have provided during REGISTRATION to JNMA. We may also contact you anytime for immediate information to speed up the review process.

Please do not contact editorial member's personal telephone numbers but JNMA office. If you have more queries, please contact us anytime. Help us to help you by providing required information as listed on this page.

Submission Preparation ChecklistAs part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines. submission Preparation Checklist:

The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.

If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Supplementary Files: Please also submit supplementary files along with your manuscript and also go through JNMA Checklist (must read):

Open Access PolicyThis journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Copyright Notice

JNMA allow to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and allow readers to use them for any other lawful purpose. The author(s) are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions. The JNMA work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. More about Copyright Policy.

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